The Greatest Things

Even the greatest things in this world are nothing compared to Him. We live for our Savior, and as we live, we partake in His providence and His glory. We live by Him, for Him, and because of Him. He is our light, our sole shelter, our shepherd on high. He laid down His life for us that we might be free from sin and death.

Yet even then, sin still taints this world. Everything we do, we do in fallen, imperfect bodies. Every thought we think, big or small, is in some way still influenced by the curse of sin on the human race. All those people we interact with on a daily basis – they’re all damaged beings living in a damaged world. All those good works we do are still tainted. In fact, it is said (in Isaiah 64:6) that our best works are no more than filthy rags to Him. We are corrupted to such a great degree that, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Belief, trust, surrender to the Lord… that is the only thing that God can credit to us as righteousness.

Indeed, we have a Savior who loves us more than we could ever imagine. We have a perfect, clean, faultless Lord who came and died for the very people who had turned their backs on Him in the greatest cosmic outrage the universe has ever borne witness to. Yes, through Him, we enjoy and see the blessings of Christ on this side of the great divide. He has redeemed us, and we are free! We are liberated from sin. We are still sinful, still broken, still fallen… but redeemed. Loved. Freed. Alive.

Now this same God who loved us and loves us to this day, well, His main residence isn’t even down here. It’s in Heaven. We feel Him, we interact with Him, and we love Him while we’re here. We grow in Him. He is a father, and we follow our Father’s leading. But I must ask – if our Father is giving us all we need in this utterly broken world, what will it be like on the other side? What will it be like when we breathe our last and our spirit passes from the body to the heavenly realm? Surely, I do not know.

I cannot imagine. I cannot comprehend. I cannot do enough to describe God’s infinite mercy as it appears in this present age. Oh, how could I possibly describe Him in all His fullness? I could spend my entire life preaching just one message – the infinite love of God – and I would be no closer to fully conveying the true nature of His love on my final day than on my first. His love is endless. It’s wholly sincere. It’s entirely real, the most real thing there is. He is love! He is fully good, and in Him is no darkness at all.

Yes, we see Him now in part. We see Him in the skies and in the sunsets. We enjoy Him in the Word and in the Church. We interact with Him through prayer, through listening, through the quiet longings of our hearts. We watch the thunderstorms roll across the land in a roaring display of His power. But all that – well – it’s like reading just one sentence about the Lord who could fill a hundred billion times a hundred billion volumes. All we can read now is that one sentence, but in the next life, perhaps we will get access to those other volumes.

Paul Washer, an evangelist and preacher, once said, “Heaven will be an infinite tracking down of the glories of God.”

What a profound statement! All these things we have now – fellowship, friendship, love, family, marriage, and so forth – are intended to manifest the glory of the Creator. But these are only the very beginning! What greater glory is to be revealed in Heaven; how much more shall we come to appreciate our Father there? We have great gifts now, but then… wow.

Yes, in this world, it is necessary to be thankful for all we have. Do you have a spouse? Thank the Lord. Do you have a career? Thank Him. How about friends, a place to live, or the ability to think and reason? Praise God. Every breath we breathe, every friend we meet, every chance we get to pray – it’s entirely there to reveal Him. But these things, why, they’re just the beginning. They constitute the first page in a narrative that stretches to a hundred billion pages in length and forevermore beyond.

Even the greatest things in this world are nothing compared to Him. He is the treasure, the glory, the all-sufficient Savior of all those who will come unto Him.

Do you know Him? Have you truly made Him the Lord of all you are, Lord of all your life? He is there. He loves you. That infinite God that far outshines even the brightest of earthly gifts… He beckons for you to come unto Him and cast all your cares on Him, because He cares for you.